


Value My Treasure

by Reading_at_Dawn



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Rarepair, cute fluff, for mermay, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 14:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19086808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reading_at_Dawn/pseuds/Reading_at_Dawn
Summary: A cute fluffy fic that takes place under the sea! Written for Mermay!





	Value My Treasure

Josh hummed softly, smiling as his tail gently swished from side to side to keep himself floating in place. After a moment he let out a huff of satisfaction, straightening up so he was not longer hunched over the underwater vent. He ran a thumb gently over the thin piece of metal in his hands, ear fins flicking in excitement. After a few weeks of work, the surprise was finally finished. Now all he needed to do was--

“Hey Flipper!” The voice behind Josh startled him, making the merman momentarily lose his grip on the surprise. Thankfully he was quick enough to snatch it back into his hands, tugging it close to his chest. 

“North, you're back!” Josh glanced back at his girlfriend with a surprised yet happy smile as she wrapped her arms around his stomach, tugging him into a hug from behind. “How was the visit with your mom?”

“It was fine.” North let go of Josh as she shrugged. Josh turned to face her as she talked, tucking his gift behind his back to keep it hidden. “She's got a girlfriend now, another warm water. What do you have?” North's gaze flicked to to Josh's hidden arms with a raised eyebrow. 

“Nothing!” Josh replied, making sure the gift was hidden completely in his hand.

"Oh really? What are you hiding?" North grinned, reaching to try and get around Josh, to grab his arm.

"I'm not hiding anything!" Josh swam to try and get behind North, the mermaid determinedly following him as she continued to try and grab him. The two swam in a circular dance up and away from the vents, laughing. Josh raised his arm above his head and North grabbed his wrist, pausing with their faces merely inches away from each other.

"I caught you!" North grinned, letting out a proud laugh. Josh only smiled in return, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her lips. North flustered, letting go of the merman and shoving Josh back as he laughed. "Bastard!"

“But you love me anyway.”

“I know, shut up.” North stuck her tongue out at Josh, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before starting to swim off. “Come on, Flipper. Let's go home.”

Josh shifted what he held to his other hand before swimming after her, following North and the tightly-bound kelp rope that guided them back home. 

Their species of mermaid live in sprawling caves carved into the side of a ravine, signs etched in the rock walls to mark the different areas of the cave system. Their small city. Residential caves had been carved into one side, while their shops and other necessary additions were located on the other side of the ravine. Kelp ropes were laced in the center, criss crossing from one side to the other to help guide the mermaids where they wanted to go.

North ducked into one of the residential openings, leading the way to their cave and ducking through the bioluminescent moss that draped over the small entrance. Josh followed her inside, smiling fondly as he watched her pause in the middle of the room and bite her lip thoughtfully.

“Hungry?” Josh swum up behind North and wrapped an arm around her side, nuzzling his face briefly into her neck.

“A bit.” North chuckled softly in response, glancing at him. She seemed to have forgotten, or at least was ignoring the hand Josh had tucked behind his back.

“Good. Why don't you relax while I get it together? And… I know you've traveled quite a bit today, but why don't we go for a swim after we eat?” Josh offered, making North look up at him with a curious smile. 

“Take a swim? Are you plotting something?” North teased, only gaining a grin from her boyfriend in response. North stuck her tongue out at him as Josh nudged her to the bedroom, the merman popping out of the cave when he was sure she went in. 

A little after the two had eaten and headed back out, they stopped at the bar remains of a human sunken ship. Most of the ship had been stripped of the thin metal it had, leaving behind only a rusting skeleton that slowly sunk into the sand as the years went by.

North sat down and relaxed back against one of the vertical beams. She yawned, ear fins flipping back as she stretch with her tail lazily swishing back and forth. She closed her eyes, letting her head sit back while Josy began to fiddle with what he'd made while she wasn't paying attention.

“So… North…” Josh murmured uncertainly, ear fins twitching as he looked back at North. The mermaid opened her eyes at the sound of her name, glancing at Josh with a quizzical  look. "We, um… we've been together for a few years now, and…"

"And?" North asked with an edge to her voice, ear fins tilting back anxiously. Josh had trailed off for a moment and North sat up, removing the bag strap from her wrist and holding it in her hands.

Josh swallowed, closing his eyes before opening then again. "Here." He held his hand out to North, dropping it into her own when she reached for it.

It was a necklace of four braided pieces of metal, small pearl's gingerly dangling down as she lifted it up to examine it. North's eyes widened in surprise, the mermaid quickly slipping the bag strap back over her wrist.

"It's amazing, Josh! How long did it take to make this?" North asked, turning to him.

"Well… A while." Josh murmured, somewhat taken aback. His ear fins twitched as he glanced anxiously at North. Did she like it? Dislike it? Did she…?

North pulled the necklace over her head, settling it on her neck with a warm smile and running a thumb over one of the pearls. "I love it, Josh. Thank you so much! I… have something for you too." North offered the bag she held to the merman, Josh taking and looking it over in confusion. He peeked inside, finding that it was filled about halfway to the top with seashells. Josh reached in, pulling out a small red and white shell to look it over.

"Seashells?" He looked at North in confusion. The mermaid looked at him in surprise before letting out a soft laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh! You must not do that, huh?" Josh's ear fins twitched as she spoke, gently placing the shell back in the bag. "So… for warm waters, we… Warm waters collect shells as we grow up. When we, uh… We trade shell bags with white we want to spend the rest of our lives with."

Josh hadn't exactly realized that different species of mermaids had different mating proposals, even though it made sense. He'd forgotten that North had spent most of her life with warm water mermaids until she moved here, even though she was half and half. 

"My mate." Josh laughed, running a hand over his face. North's ear fins pinned back anxiously against her head, tail twitching angrily. 

"Hey! It's not funny, I just thought that since we'd been together for a while--"

"It's not that!" Josh set the bag carefully on the beam next to him, reaching out to take North's hands. "That… That's what the necklace was for. Is for. My mating proposal."

The second the words sunk in North relaxed, letting out a laugh. They'd decided to do the same thing without realizing it, wasn't it funny?

"I love you, North." Josh hummed with a smile, receiving only a grin in response as she slipped off the beam. North took a hand back from Josh, tucking a finger under his chin and pulling him into a kiss.


End file.
